Murder She Wrote: Who Knew: Jessica and Seth a Couple?
by strent23
Summary: When Jessica and Seth go to New York for their annual shopping and museum trip, who would ever imagine what would transpire between the two of them after Seth is kidnapped by the mob?


HP

Who Knew,

Jessica and Seth, A Couple?

 **Samella McClary-Brown**

Jessica and Seth go away for a day in New York, only for Seth to be kidnapped, ( Murder She Wrote Season 7, episode 11, Family Doctor) but it is what transpires after the kidnapping that has the Cabot Cover's all in a titer.

Jessica has been a widower on her own for several years now. She has known Dr. Seth Hazlitt since forever. She and her husband Frank were friends with Seth and his wife for years. Seth's wife died years earlier. After her husband's death, she and Seth became almost inseparable, and as a result of all their time spent together, they have been teased on more than one occasion that they act like an old married couple.

Over the years, they have faced many challenges and difficulties, some apart but quite a few of them have been together; mostly would be criminals attempting their life-from poisoning to kidnapping, yet they have managed to survive. One such incident was a few nights ago. The incident had caused her to stop and think about how she would feel if Seth was no longer apart of her life.

Then there was the time when the famous writer Eudora's step son accidentally poisoned Seth when in fact he was trying to kill Jessica. It had been an ill attempt to frame his step mom so he could have her money when she went to jail for the crime. _Now, none of that!_ Seth had said to her when he saw the tears in her eyes when he awakened to find himself in the hospital and Jessica sitting by his side. That had been several months ago.

But now they were in New York, two days after being held captive in a mob family's house. They were stepping into the sunlight after finishing paperwork at headquarters. For their troubles with the mob, the police sergeant had said: "You two might as well stay at the hotel, we have already paid for the rooms and we have extended it an extra night."

Seth and Jessica looked at each other. "He is right; we might as well stay over and catch the next train to Cabot Cove tomorrow. Anyway, right now I am starving!"

"Seth, I would think after your ordeal, the last place you would want to be would be a restaurant."

"Who said anything about a restaurant?"

Jessica arched an eye brow as Seth took her arm.

"Woman, ever heard of room service?" Seth retorted back.

They were now dressed in comfortable clothes, something they picked up before heading back to the hotel. They were seated at a table in the adjoining suit of their two hotel rooms eating breakfast food although it was pretty late in the afternoon.

Jessica looked across the table at Seth and thought about how sad she would be if something had happened to him. And she realized just how much she did indeed care for him.

"Stop thinking about your book and eat your food woman." Seth's booming voice interrupted her thoughts.

"What?" A startled Jessica looked up. Seth repeated his question. "Oh, what makes you think I'm thinking about my book?"

"Because you had that look you get when you are thinking about your next book! Unless—"

"Unless what?"

"There's a murder you are working on that I know nothing about," he raised an eyebrow.

"Heavens, no! "

"Thank God!"

"And, no, I'm not thinking about my writing."

"Then what prey tale are you thinking about so intensely?"

There was silence, as she gave his question some thought. Did she really want tell him the truth? If she lied, he would know anyway, and besides, one thing the two of them never ever did, was lie to each other.

"Jessica?" Seth had reached out across the table and was touching her hand. "What's wrong?

"If you must know, I was thinking about you and about how worried I was when you disappeared from the restaurant."

"Ah Jess, I'm okay now."

"I was also thinking how worried I was when you were poisoned a few years back." A single tear appeared in one of her eyes.

He reached up and wiped away her tear. "Come now, no need for these."

"There's more Seth!" She said, but was not forthcoming with what she had to say.

He wanted to tell her to just spit it out, but he could tell from the look upon her face that she wrestling with something, so, he waited patiently. Finally, she said quietly, "I've finally come to the realization of just how much I really care about you."

"Jessica, I care for you too!" He took a sip from his coffee.

Jessica placed her hand on his arm and looked directly into his eyes. "No, Seth, what I feel for you, goes deeper than that-I'm in love with you."

That did it; Seth nearly choked on his coffee, spitting it out quickly. He looked deep into her eyes trying to determine whether or not he was misunderstanding her words or whether or not she was playing some cruel joke upon him. But from the look upon her face, she was dead serious. He didn't know whether to weep, jump up for joy or do both.

He could see from her questioning look that she was wondering whether or not she had done the right thing by telling him and he knew he had to say something, but words weren't coming forth right, so he did the next best thing. He reached up and held her face in his hands and ever so gently kissed her upon the lips. "Oh Jessica, do you know how long I've waited to hear those words?" A tear came to his eyes. "Ah, Jessica, I'm in love with you too!"

He gave her another kiss that she reciprocated before letting go but held her in his arms. "Now what?"

"That is entirely up to us." Jessica replied with a smile.

Seth was thoughtful for a moment, his eyes sparkling.

"Seth?"

"Will you marry me?"  
"What?"

Seth took her hands in his. "Jessica, this is not some half-baked whim or idea, if that is what you're thinking. I have been in love with you so long, but never had the courage to say anything. And now that I know just how you feel, I don't want to waste any more time. This is not how I would have liked to propose. Heck, I would like to court you properly, but life is just too darn short," he knew he was babbling but he couldn't help himself. "If you say yes, I promise, I will make it up to you."

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes, I will marry you."

"Are you sure?"

"Seth, I nearly lost you twice. I want to spend what time I have left with you." "I will make it up to you, you'll see." He reiterated his promise.

"I'm going to hold you to that."

He pulled her back into his arms and gave a sort of chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

"You know there are those back home that would say we have already been acting like an old married couple."

Jessica couldn't help but to laugh herself. "I suppose that is true! I was thinking that very thing a few moments ago.

"Well, I say we finish this here breakfast and go about making our plans."

After her declaration of love and Seth's proposal, they had decided to marry while in New York. She knew from some research she did for one of her books that after filling out the license, you could get married 24 hours later, right down at city hall. "But what about our friends and family?" she had asked Seth. "Who would you want to be here?"

"Well besides my brothers, there would be Grady and his wife and then well-"

"Mort and Adele?" He finished for her.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"I know you," he'd said squeezing her hand. "Well, let's call them. Would that make you happy?"

"Yes."

"Mort, this is Jessica."

"Hi, Mrs. F! Is everything okay with you and the doc? I was beginning to worry."

'Well, we did have a bit of trouble Mort, but everything is okay now."

"What happened?"

"I'll explain that later. Is anyone else in your office?"

"No, Floyd is out. "

"Good, I have something to tell you."

"Yes, Mrs. F?" Mort said after there was a long silence.

"Seth and I are getting married and we want to do it tomorrow and we want you and Adele to…." Jessica thought she heard the phone drop on the other end. "Mort, are you still there?"

"Mrs. F. I thought you said that you and the doc were getting married and that…"

"Yes, that's right, we want to do it tomorrow and we want you and Adele to come up for the ceremony if you can."

"Well, I'll be." He always wondered if there was more between them. "Well, congratulations and yes, of course, Adele and I have your back." After ironing out the details, Mort hung up the phone. He was still standing there, scratching his head when Floyd returned.

"What's wrong sheriff?" Floyd asked.

"Nothing, but I have to go away tonight for a few days." "Anything wrong?"

"Actually no." He stepped towards the door. "I have to step out and find Adele, I'll be back shortly."

"Why don't you just call her?"

But the sheriff had already left out the door; leaving Floyd scratching the top of his head.

A few days later in Loretta's beauty salon, Ideal walked in for her weekly hair appointment, to find the salon all a buzz and all ado over something in the newspaper. Eve, Phyllis and even the owner Loretta were squeezed together looking at it.

"Who knew?" Eve asked.

"Who would have ever guessed?" Phyllis cooed.

"Well, it's not like we haven't been saying it for years!" Loretta replied.

"Saying what?" Ideal questioned.

The four of them looked up, clearly noticing Ideal for the first time.

"Did you know about this?" Eve asked, shaking the paper at Ideal.

"Know about what?" Ideal peered down at the article. "Dr. Seth Hazlitt and esteemed mystery writer Jessica Fletcher elope!" The article went on to say that it was an intimate affair of her nephew Grady, his wife and another couple whose names weren't mentioned.

"And, here I thought I was one of Jessica's dearest and oldest friends." Eve said.

"What?" Ideal questioned, dropping into the nearest chair. "And, you mean to tell me, none of you knew?"

Everyone shook their head. "I thought they were just going to New York for their annual shopping trip," said Phyllis.

"Well apparently, they had more in mind than the trip." Eve said, throwing the paper against the table.

"Well, Jessica has an appointment today," Loretta said, "so I suppose we can ask her all about it then."

"I think it's kind of romantic," said Ideal dreamily.

"You think anything is romantic," said Eve.

"Well, I'm happy for them," said Ideal.

"I agree," said Loretta.

Awakening, Jessica's hand felt the arm next to her, and she momentarily forgot where and for whom she was with; but as last night's events came back, a smile spread wide and broad across her face. It had almost been magical. Seth and Mort arrived as promised.

Grady and his wife along with Mort and Adele had been in attendance. She had not been able to reach either of her brothers. After the ceremony, they'd gone out to dinner to celebrate. Grady and his wife returned home and Mort and Adele had went to their own hotel room but agreed to meet them for breakfast before they all headed back to Cabot Cove. All and all, it had been quite a lovely day and evening.

She turned over and looked over at Seth who was also awake. He was watching her with a wide smile of his own.

"Good morning Mrs. Hazlitt, did you sleep well?"

She nodded. "And, you?"

"Indeed I did woman!" He pulled her into his arms and gave her a kiss.

"Now what?"

"We meet the Metzger's for breakfast and head home, I suppose."

Jessica frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure I'm ready to go home," she replied, snuggling closer into his embrace.

"Why?" Seth raised an eyebrow then said, as he got the meaning of the look upon her face. "You aren't ready for the Cabot Cove gossip monger's?"

"Seth!" she said, giving him a gentle punch in the arm.

"Jessica, you know as good as I do what they are like back home. I still love them but…." He sort of shrugged and threw up his hands. "And we also knew when we decided to elope how things would be."

"That is true, but still…"

"It'll be fine, you'll see," he said, as he pulled her closer into his embrace. "Ah come on woman, we have more important things to worry about."

"Like what?"

"Such as?" She asked, arching an eyebrow.

"What time are we supposed to meet Adele and Mort?"

"Nine o'clock. Why?"

For an answer, he kissed her and whispered against her lips. "I think we have plenty of time."

Jessica giggled and returned his kiss releasing all the love she felt for him as he did the same.

Jessica and Seth pulled up to the beauty parlor. "Okay, here goes everything."

"You could just cancel the appointment."

"No, might as well get it over with."

"I could go in with you."

"No, I don't want to subject you to all those women," she paused. "You know what it's like in the beauty salon. Besides I know you're lying."

He chuckled. "Can't say that I do, but I can imagine what it is like and yes I am lying."

Ever the gentleman, Seth got out and opened the car door for Jessica but refrained himself from going near the salon.

As soon as Jessica entered the salon, Eve moved away from beneath her dryer and bulldozed over to Jessica.

"Well, Jessica, here I thought I was one of your dearest and oldest friends."

She shook the newspaper at Jessica.

Loretta and a few other women rolled their eyes.

The other women in the shop stood up as well and walked over to Jessica.

She held up her hands in protest. "Okay, give me a chance to catch my breath and a chance to get seated. I still intend on getting my hair done."

After Jessica was settled and seated in Loretta's chair, Loretta said, "So, Jessica, tell us what happened. All these years you two have been saying that you are just friends."

"Well, that is true, but-"Jessica went on to explain what happened to Seth in New York and how ever since the incident with the poisoned apple, she had been contemplating just how she really was feeling about him. "So, I finally decided to tell him how I felt."

"And, he naturally said 'Jessica, will you marry me?'" Eve said, wryly.

"I suppose that is about how it happened," replied Jessica, with a broad smile upon her face.

The other women in the shop laughed and Eve couldn't help but to laugh herself. " Who would ever imagine the cranky doctor being so sweet and so spontaneous?"

"But don't you wish he had courted you and proposed in a more romantic way?" Ideal asked.

"At our age, any kind of proposal is romantic," replied Loretta.

This set off another round of laughter from the patrons.

"Actually, I feel as though Seth has been courting me all these years. He has always been nothing but a gentleman in every way, always available for me when I needed something, helping with my house, taking me out to dinner, shopping, etc. Heck, we went up to New York to go to the museums and to do some shopping." She paused for a moment. "How much closer to courting, though I think the young people call it dating, can one get?"

Every woman in the shop seemed to reflect on that. Even Eve was nodding her head in agreement.

Seth had been about to get into his car when he heard the mayor call his name.

"Good morning, Doc."

"Good morning, Mayor."

"Well, look like congratulations are in order." He held a newspaper in his hand and Seth didn't need to be a rocket scientist to know what the major had been reading.

"Thank you!"

The mayor paused and opened his mouth as if to say something.

"Did you have something else you wanted to say?"

"Doc how could you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Go and marry Mrs. Fletcher, I mean Mrs. Hazlitt, I mean…"

"What in the blazes are you trying to say?"

"How could you go and marry Mrs. ugh Jessica without letting us know? "

Seth was dumbfounded. And his look must have reflected this because the mayor bumbled on, "so that the town could give you two a proper sendoff celebration."

"There is no need for that."

"But Seth, seeing as Jessica is such a celebrated author you are our esteemed doctor and all, we would love to host a celebration."

Seth knew just too well why the mayor would want to hold such a celebration and knew that it was more for the publicity that it would gain the town and the major. Impatient to get back in his car, Seth retorted. "I'll talk to Jessica and see how she feels about it." He got into his car. "I must be going now."

"Thanks doc."

As Seth drove his car towards his office, he was seething, but as he drove past Jessica's house, memories of the last few days warmed his heart and he could not help but smile. But then a sudden thought came to him: they couldn't very well live at his place; which was no more than an apartment above his office; but did he really want to live at her house where she had so many memories with her dead husband Frank? They had not talked about or gotten that far in their conversation. He supposed living there wouldn't be so bad. Upmost in his mind was for her to be happy and comfortable, but he didn't want to have anything from the past interfering with their relationship either. He was sure they would figure it out.

"Where will the two of you live?" Phyllis asked.

"Surely you aren't going to live at the doctor's house," quipped Eve before Jessica could even answer.

"And you certainly can't live at your house with the memories of your late husband," said Ideal.

"Well?" Eve asked when Jessica wasn't forthcoming with an answer.

"To be honest with you," Jessica answered slowly, "we hadn't talked about where we are going to live, but we'll figure it out."

Once Loretta was done with her hair, Jessica stood, paid and walked towards the door. "Well, Loretta thanks."

"Oh, no you don't," she said touching Jessica's arm. "Seth got out of being teased earlier when he dropped you off."

"And there is no way we are going to let him get away when he picks you up," finished Eve.

Jessica started to protest but then smiled as Loretta poked her head out of the shop and waved towards Seth's car. "We are holding Jessica hostage."

Seth grumbled and walked over to the shop.

"Did you honestly think you would get out of it so easily?"

Seth came over and into the shop. "Well, you can't blame a guy from trying."

"We just wanted to say congratulations," said Ideal who now was finished with her hair as well.

"And ask you how can you propose without having a place for your bride to live?" put in Eve.

"Yeah honestly doctor!" came a few more responses from the salon patrons.

"We are two grown people perfectly capable of making a decision about our lives without your input, thank you very much." He took hold of Jessica's hand. "You ready Jessica? "

"But-"

"Ladies you have had your fun, now we must be going."

Jessica chuckled as they left.

"Jessica, the only perfectly sensible thing to do would be to live at your house," Seth said as they entered her house.

"But Seth is that what you want?"

"I want what you want."

"Now, really, don't go getting all mushy on me now. Where is my old crusty doctor?"

"He's in love and he wants to make the woman he loves happy."

"Cute but tell me how you are really feeling about the whole thing."

In spite of himself, he laughed. "Well, Jess, you did have a life before me here at the house with Frank."

"Yes, that's true. And, your place is not the house you had with Ruth, so—"

"But your house is more practical for the two of us. And anyway, we have shared lots and lots of great and fond memories here."

"But-"

"Couldn't we at least change the bedroom, more specifically the bed," he said softly.

That did bring a laugh from Jessica.

"What's so funny?"

"Seth, don't you remember?" She nudged him. "I got rid of that bed a few years ago."

Seth rubbed his chin as he thought about it. "Oh, that's right."

She smiled as she reached out and touched his cheek. "Don't be embarrassed, I totally understand."

"Then it's settled, we will stay here."

"We can change and redecorate anyway you want."

"Maybe just a few changes, like taking down those frilly things hanging up in the bedroom and the frilly ones in the kitchen."

"Now, Seth Hazlitt, I will compromise over the bedroom, but you may not touch my kitchen curtains."

They both looked at each other and saw that the other person had a glint of laughter in their eyes.

"What now?" Asked Jessica.

"Are you hungry?"

She started to retort that didn't they just eat, but realized that her stomach was indeed rumbling. Truth of the matter was that they had not had anything since their breakfast in New York. They had taken the next train back with the Metzler's then after dropping them off, went right to Loretta's.

"I can whip us up some sandwiches," Jessica said.

"Sure, and I can make us some coffee," said Seth.

As they cooked and prepared beverages, they talked amicably, just like they always did. It was almost as though nothing had changed. And although one major changed had taken place, everything else was relatively unchanged. Seth could not be happier. He'd always dreamed of them being together as a couple and finally it had happened.

"Oh, I ran into the Mayor," Seth said as they sat down to eat their food.

"Oh?"

"He wants to give us a party, a wedding celebration, of sorts."

"I think Eve mentioned wanting to give us something as well."

"Well, we knew that this would be the case."

"It will be fine."

"I know. I don't care, as long as you are there."

He stood up and reached across the table and gave her a light kiss before sitting back down to finish his meal.


End file.
